Look, let’s go ahead and get this out of the way. I WAS named “Apologist of the Morning” by “The Great Arbitrator” Drew Forrester. I said it last night on Twitter (follow us @WNST), and I’ll stick by it…

“Here’s where I’ll be fair. Sometimes the other team tries too.”

I should have prefaced that. I should have said that if the Orioles were a good team, they’d earn the benefit of the doubt that sometimes the other team tries too.

I didn’t feel as though the Orioles didn’t try last night, or as if anything in particular was a glaring reason for why they LOST the game. I really DID feel as though the Tigers were just much better.

Of course, I should be fair. They AREN’T any good. This is what happens when you aren’t any good. Even when you play well (Jake Arrieta pitched well, the Orioles added runs in the 8th and 9th inning, etc), the teams you play against can figure out ways to beat you.

Maybe another Tweet I sent out last night was more fitting for this team…

“Well, the Orioles managed to find a way to lose again. Just like a season long kick in the nuts…“

And Felix Pie had two hits last night. Although he couldn’t move Matt Wieters (trust me, I think it was terrible baserunning from Wieters too) to 3rd base-or score him-in a key situation; but I’ll leave that alone.

“For his trouble, he waited 21/2 months for enough offensive support to earn his first victory of the year and now appears to be wilting under the weight of this discouraging season.

How else could you explain his performance Monday in Detroit, where he lasted just one inning, threw 45 pitches and allowed five runs? It was the third-shortest outing of his 14-year career and the sixth time in his past eight starts that he gave up at least five runs.”

I understand that Millwood did a decent job to start the season, but are we really surprised that he’s struggling???

Kevin Millwood is a solid MLB pitcher who was poorly cast by Andy MacPhail as a front of the rotation starter on a bad team. He’s a good pitcher, but he’s a good pitcher who should be the 3rd or 4th starter on a good team.

He’s a pitcher who was 48-46 over his last 4 seasons (all with the Texas Rangers) before being traded to Baltimore. He averaged a 4.67 ERA over those 4 seasons as well.

He was GOING TO STRUGGLE this season. He isn’t Roy Halladay. He isn’t Felix Hernandez. He isn’t Andy Pettitte! He’s a veteran starter who has been good in his career; but has struggled at times.

It’s frustrating because it almost eliminates his trade value as we approach the July 31 deadline; but it isn’t surprising. It’s what happens when a team acquires “a guy” instead of “the guy.”

Now here’s the part where we all sit around and think about our memories of Garrett Atkins…

-There was the time he hit his home run
-There was the time he went to London and brought Aldous Snow back to the Greek Theater
-There was the time he blew up that BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico
-There was the time he blew the call on Maurice Edu’s goal in the Team USA-Slovenia match
-There was the time he announced Mary Kane as his running mate in his campaign to replace Martin O’Malley as governor of Maryland

I’m not sure why everyone was down on him, it was a hell of a run.

(Edit from GMC: Apparently only the 1 home run was true amongst the things on that list. I could have sworn…)

-The Birds are back in action tonight as they try to avoid the sweep at Comerica Park. First pitch between Brad Bergesen and Max Scherzer is at 7:05pm on MASN. My guess? The Tigers will finish the sweep. But I always assume the other team will win.

-Did you miss Bowie Baysox pitcher and Orioles prospect Steve Johnson on “The Morning Reaction” this morning on AM1570 WNST? Make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault here at WNST.net today to check it out. We also had ESPN analyst and former Rangers/Cubs/etc OF Doug Glanville (author of the new book “The Game From Where I Stand”) and former Terrapins/Blast star Desmond Armstrong to talk World Cup on the show this morning-make sure you check them out as well.

This wouldn’t surprise me necessarily. I know that Ed is wanting to get back on the field; but I wouldn’t exactly be stunned if he missed Training Camp. Should he miss Training Camp, there would be a major question as to whether or not he should be PUP’ed.

There are some simple facts here. 1-While Ken Hamlin and Tom Zbikowski give the Ravens depth at safety, neither are Ed Reed. 2-There are CLEARLY other issues involved in this, with Ed bringing up his contract multiple times during an interview on “The Morning Reaction” last Friday.

I’ll guess that Reed’s situation will be the story we’re most interested in while we’re in Westminster. In fact, I hope it is. A Joe Flacco injury would be a more interesting story. I’m not looking for something like that.

I would counter with the same thing I’ve said a hundred times before. The moment the Ravens traded for Anquan Boldin, they showed me they were intent on getting to Dallas and hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy. I’m not worked up about the additions of Marc Bulger, Ken Hamlin or Walt Harris. Any NFL team could make those types of moves.

Acquiring Anquan Boldin? That’s a Super Bowl-type move.

By the way, John Eisenberg will join Rex Snider this afternoon on AM1570 WNST at 3:30pm.

This is very similar to what I told Mike Florio in his ProFootballTalk.com/NBC Sports season preview magazine. There is a shift here. Joe Flacco, Ray Rice and Michael Oher are the nucleus of a unit that should make the Ravens winners for years to come.

I said from the jump that I wasn’t sold on this being a good fit for Dave Cottle. He really has no background in the northeast, and having to get kids to an Ivy League school isn’t as easy as the success Princeton has had would make you think it was.

The Penn State job would have been a great gig for Cottle-but the Nittany Lions found their man. Instead, he’s probably better suited sitting it out and seeing what might open up in the next year or two. He’s MUCH better off in the Mid-Atlantic. Had Towson parted ways with Tony Seaman (which they rightly didn’t), that might have been a good fit.

I’ve attended Women’s Tournament games in College Park, and they do an outstanding job of hosting the event. Hopefully, Brenda Freses’s team won’t be on the outside looking in during March Madness this year.

Question: Is there any chance Laura Leigh Siani could be part of the Tournament??? (Thanks Brosome/Busted Coverage!)

And finally, I leave you with this.

Is it even safe for the Orioles to go to the Ballpark in Arlington this weekend??? Not only are fans falling from the upper deck (I’m not even going to bother re-posting that video), but even fans in the outfield are pinning kids against fences to try to steal cheap souvenirs…